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Greymouth Star
Bookshelf
The Travelling Hunter
Vern Wilson
The Halcyon Press
$39.99
194pp
In Vern Wilson’s own words he
started out as a “hairy a--d young
hunter” and is now “a hairy a--d old
hunter”.
This is Wilson’s second book, with
Hoon to Hunter being his first.
Along the way he has had a lot of
adventure and laughs with hunters
around the world, visited places and
gained valuable experiences and
knowledge of hunting techniques.
He visited numerous places
including Wyoming, Montana, Idaho,
British Columbia, Alaska, Zimbabwe
and then to the Kalahari Desert, and
he has many a yarn for you to enjoy.
Wilson started a career as a hunting
guide in the autumn of 1969 when
he took a German hunter out pig
hunting for a day.
He clearly remembers this occasion
as he described the German and his
wife looking like ‘ Tweedle Dee and
Tweedle D um’.
The German hunter did nothing but
grumble and moan all day.
When the German required a rest,
Wilson took the opportunity to head
up to the top of the ridgeline, where
he cupped his hands and let out a roar.
A stag responded, taking up the
challenge and started to head in the
direction of Wilson.
The German had by this time
regained his wind and was able to
shoot the 11-pointer stag as it came
within 20m of them.
But he still had the ner ve to moan
that it was the worst day of hunting he
had ever had.
On another occasion Wilson helped
an American television crew that
came to New Zealand to film tahr
hunting.
His responsibility was to load the
helicopter to get the crew into the
base camp and he at one stage referred
to the whole scene as something out
of MASH.
Reviewed by Rod Perrin-Smith
One-dish Dinners
Penny Oliver
Penguin Books
$40
160pp
Fabulous, no fuss meals do not have to be
complicated.
Penny Oliver gives you a delicious
collection of easy meals that can all be
cooked in one pot, pan, bowl, baking dish
or casserole.
The recipes are big on flavour and light
on fuss which also saves you on clean-up
time as well.
Quick warming soups, zesty summer
salads, melt-in-the-mouth casseroles,
simple one-tray bakes, and delicious
desserts all arranged according to the dish
or pan you prepare them in.
At the end of a busy day you can still
ser ve up a tasty, nutritious dinner and have
more time to spend with your family and
doing the things you enjoy.
Each recipe has a mouth-watering photo
of the dish in this beautifully presented
book which is also ideal for the beginner
cook.
Reviewed by Lisa Mahauariki
The Buried Giant
Kazuo Ishiguro
Faber
$36.99
345pp
Booker Prize
winner Kazu
Ishiguro’s first
novel in 10 years
ventures into new
territory, fantasy.
Set in the years
after the death of
King Arthur, in a
post-Roman Britain declining
into ruin, it follows couple
Beatrice and Arthur as they set
off to find a son they cannot
remember.
With inspiration taken from
the middle English poem Sir
Gawain and the Green Knight,
it is part adventure, as they go
on a quest as war looms, and
dragons and trolls rampage.
It is also a serious exploration
of memory, individual and
collective, thanks to a heavy
fog which lies over the land.
The first 30 pages seemed
bizarre, with
talk of giants.
It gained
momentum,
though it
seemed a
little lost at
times, as it
drifts between
genres.
Ishiguro won
the Booker
Prize and the
Whitbread for
the Remains
of the Day. This book has had
a more cautious welcome from
international critics, some of
whom were bemused by it.
Nonetheless his incredible
skill as a writer shines off every
page. After the opening pages,
it has a strangely mesmerising
quality.
The Buried Giant is
definitely an acquired taste
that will not suit all, but lovers
of literary fiction will surely
enjoy its odd simplicity — and
complexity.
Reviewed by Laura Mills
For Valour
Andy McNab
Bantam Press
$36.99
429pp
Military based
stories are not
something I
generally read,
therefore I was
surprised to find
myself enjoying
this book from the
beginning.
Leaving his
family in Moscow, convinced
that they are safer there and
reeling from the loss of his
friend Harry during a botched
operation in Sweden, Nick
Stone, ex-SAS, is informed of a
murder that has taken place at
the regiment ’s killing house.
A young recruit is killed
during a training exercise and
while the finger is pointed at
Harry’s son, Sam, Nick does
not believe it and knows this
is just the beginning of an
investigation
that means
he must
expose the
establishment
he once fought
hard to
protect.
Within
forty-eight
hours the death
of another
friend leaves
Nick dodging
an unknown
assassin as
the establishment cover-up
continues.
From Wales, to Scotland, to
Southern Spain he works to
uncover the truth of a story
which began some time before
with a failed mission on an
Afghan hillside.
Although the story rambles a
little in the middle, it is full of
twists, turns and action on the
way to uncovering the truth.
Reviewed by Daphne
Willis
Private Vegas
James Patterson
Centur y
$36.99
378pp
Jack Morgan,
head of Private
Investigations
in Los Angeles,
is on the trail
of two men
with diplomatic
immunity who kill
women and get
away with it.
At the same time
a serial arsonist is blowing up
cars, including Jack’s own.
Another of the Private team
is on trial on a trumped-up
assault charge, and Jack’s
vindictive twin brother is
causing trouble again.
Despite the title only a small
subplot takes place in Las
Vegas.
Here an ex-con has a sleazy
plan to help
young women
to land rich
husbands,
before killing
each husband
in a way that
looks like a
natural death.
The many
storylines at
times make
the book feel
like a set of
short stories
with little time
for character
development. Despite this,
James Patterson’s trademark
short chapters make for a
quick, fun read.
Most of the multiple
storylines are eventually tied
up leaving a few teasers to lure
readers back to the next book
in the series.
Reviewed by Daphne
Willis
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The Anzacs: An Inside View of New
Zealanders at Gallipoli
Penguin Books
Auckland War Memorial Museum
$45
240pp
The bitter and bloody failed
Gallipoli campaign is now regarded
as a defining point in this nation’s
history.
The Auckland War Memorial
Museum, in conjunction with
Penguin, has published a selection
of photographs casting new light on
those dreadful days.
The photos, taken by soldiers, give
witness to a candid, unpretentious,
revealing and occasionally haunting
spectacle.
The scope of the pictures includes
not only New Zealanders but also a
few of French and French colonial
troops, Indian and British soldiers
and a couple of aircraft and airmen.
The text is quite short, but conveys
some of the grimness of the
campaign.
Like any written record, the book
is simply unable to impart much
of the horror of the place — the
smell, the rats, the flies, the fear.
This is no reflection on the quality
of this publication. Indeed, the
photographers have given today ’s
readers a valuable insight into the
now-famous battleground.
Soldiers are seen landing on the
beach, trying to eke out somewhere
to exist on (or in) the hillsides,
digging trenches, firing on the Turks,
trying to relax and on leave on the
island of Lemnos. Troops are seen in
a bomb (grenade) throwing contest,
and with mules bringing in loads
of captured rifles. It shows that, in
between the battles, there were quiet
periods in which the soldiers were
probably quite bored.
Well worth the money.
Reviewed by Gavin Riley
The Western Front: A Guide to New
Zealand Battlefields and Memorials
Ian McGibbon
Penguin
$25
200pp
At a time when battlefield tourism
is on an increase and more and more
people are becoming interested in
visiting the sites of battles in Belgium
and France this book is a well-timed
introduction to the travel guide
market.
Ian McGibbon has produced
a well researched guide to the
battlefields of the Western Front
from May 1916 when the New
Zealand Division went into the front
line near Armentieres to the final
campaigns of 1918 and all the battles
in between. The guide covers the
Somme, Messines, Passchendaele and
Le Q uesnoy.
McGibbon describes each
battlefield in some detail with maps,
present-day photographs, and by
pointing out current landmarks in the
landscape.
There are narratives from those
who were there on how the battles
developed, and the citations for
Victoria Cross winners.
The number of cemeteries at each
battlefield makes the brutality and
horror of war clear.
The guidebook includes all
cemeteries with New Zealand links
and memorials on the Western
Front.
The book gives a guide to where to
stay and what to see. As the distances
are relatively short, it suggests using
Ieper (Ypres) or Arras as a base, and
travelling to the battlefields from
there. As such, The Western Front
is not just a guidebook, but a mix of
a history book and travel guide For
anyone wanting to visit the Western
Front this is a must have as the
centenary of these battles looms.
Reviewed by Gavin Riley
A Different Class of Murder:
The Story of Lord Lucan
Laura Thompson
Harper Collins
$32
422pp
The story of ‘Lucky’ Lord Lucan, the
aristocrat accused of murdering nanny
Sandra Rivett in 1974, then attacking
his own wife who escaped, is the stuff of
legend.
Stories have abounded for 40years that
Lord Lucan made it to Africa, squirrelled
out of the country by a circle of close
friends who closed ranks against the police.
To mark the anniversary, writer Laura
Thompson takes a fresh look at the case,
for which Lord Lucan — in absentia —
was never actually convicted.
After a slightly slow start looking
at murders through the ages by the
aristocracy, Thompson starts to turn things
around and create an incredibly compelling
read.
She painstakingly points out
inconsistencies in witness statements and
the forensic evidence.
She also paints a rather different picture
of Lady Veronica Lucan, who had been
suffering mental illness before separating
from her husband.
Thompson digs beneath the image of
the arrogant, cocky gambler and his poor,
lower class, victimised wife. Lord Lucan
emerges as someone driven half mad by a
custody dispute over their three children.
And interestingly, soon after the nanny ’s
murder, Lady Lucan lost custody of their
children.
But in the mid-1970s society was turning
against idle lords, and gravitated towards
his poor, beaten wife.
Thompson stops short of being an
apologist for Lord Lucan, but she does
bring some balance to the case.
Interesting, Lord Lucan’s children are
estranged from their mother and have
publicly questioned whether their father
really was quite as guilty as the wider
public believes.
This is a rather wonderful and compelling
dive into 1960s and 1970s Britain, into the
class system, and a fascinating and horrific
murder.
Reviewed by Laura Mills
Thursday, April 23, 2015 - 7
FICTION
Booker Prize
winner ventures
into fantasy
Uncovering the
truth in Valour
Quick, fun read in
Private Vegas
ANZAC
COOKING
WORLD WAR ONE
Win Anzac books
Fresh look at Lord Lucan ‘murder’ case
One-pot sensations
HUNTING
Yarns of the travelling hunter
Insight into
NZers in Gallipoli
Travellers guide to battlefields, memorials
CRIME
In honour of the Gallipoli centennial,
we have two Anzac books to give away
in a readers’ draw — The Anzacs: An
Inside View of New Zealanders at
Gallipoli, and The Western Front: A
Guide to New Zealand Battlefields and
Memorials.
To enter the draw, your entries must
include your name, address and phone
number.
Send them to:
Anzac Bookshelf
C/o Greymouth Star
POBox3
Greymouth
or e-mail competitions@greystar.
co.nz with Anzac Bookshelf in the
subject line.
One entr y per household. Entries
close on May 1.
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